Talented singers whose music is average?

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3 hours ago, kukuryku666 said:

idk what's so hard to understand here

instead of bringing pop to art

it's about bringing art to pop and pop being a form of art itself

Right, that's how she described it.

What does that mean in practice? She was already doing that with each of her three preceding bodies of work – The Fame, The Fame Monster, and Born This Way were all "art to pop." Videos like Paparazzi, Bad Romance, Telephone, Alejandro, Judas, and You and I are all perfect examples of this. Bleeding at the 2009 VMAs, performing as Jo Calderone at the 2011 VMAs, coming out of the egg at the 2011 Grammys, dropping an album centered on LGBTQ+ rights when same-sex marriage was illegal in all but 5 states in the US, her overall avant-garde style of dress – all of this feels more "art pop" than ARTPOP was (and, again, AP is my personal favorite album of hers).

The messaging of ARTPOP felt weird because it felt so nebulous as it be nothing. "My ARTPOP could mean anything" – it truly could, and in doing so, became an unnecessarily distracting schtick that I think worked to the album's detriment. She was pushing a convoluted concept that, in essence, described what she had already been doing throughout her career in more ostentatious, vague terms.

And the reason this really bugs me, about ARTPOP in particular, is because the music itself couldn't be more unrelated. The songs on AP are largely about sex, debauchery, and escapism. The narrative of "ART and POP could be together", while potentially interesting on another album, is not what is explored on ARTPOP (beyond surface level excavations like "A hybrid can withstand these things"). It's honestly like if she had named ARTPOP "The Fame" – it's like, well, ok, I can kinda see how that theme maybe relates, but it's a stretch.

Sorry, this post is way off topic from the thread, but I think the music on ARTPOP is the strongest in Gaga's career and I always wonder if she had just released it as a straightforward record under the name "The Aura" or "Venus", it wouldn't have been so polarizing and perceived as inaccessible.

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Jennifer Hudson

[StrawberryBlond 14,820]

13 hours ago, RepentingSinner said:

...

What?

She... It shows you've never dove into her discography .

I've listened to all her albums. She just slightly alters her style to suit the times but the type of music she makes has stayed the same throughout the years. She doesn't experiment and prefers to stay in her comfort zone even though the style she makes now is so dated.

11 hours ago, Helxig said:

I think there's a really simple answer to your dilemma here:  it's just opinion. There are people who love all those artists albums start to finish, but not all the songs are your cup of tea. And I'm sure that there are some albums that you think are perfect masterpieces from start to finish, and other people would say they are half 'filler tracks'.

This is the same reason everyone here endlessly debates and argues over which of Gaga's albums and songs are best and which ones are and aren't 'filler'. And why I'm sure this thread will also be full of debates.

Art is subjective, we aren't all going to have the same opinions  

I'm not asking why it is, I'm just asking people to give examples as I sometimes feel like the only one for whom the majority of an album's tracks don't really do it for me apart from my biggest faves. Artists have been doing this for years - push themselves to create amazing singles but not try as hard on the actual album. It's a trick to get people to buy it based on the strength of the singles. I'm honestly surprised that anyone still does that anymore when you can try before you buy and listen to an entire album for free to find out if you like it first. It's depressingly rare to find artists who consistently have the same high quality running through their entire album.

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P!nk post 2008: Her music used to be amazing, I can name sooo many good P!nk songs. God Is a DJ, U+ Ur Hand, Who Knew, Just Like A Pill, etc but now her music just sounds like it's made for soccer moms. 

 

Lana post NFR: Yes, yes, Lana is a genius...yes, yes, Lana is a fantastic writer and she has a nearly flawless discography but all her work post NFR has been terrible. I didn't care for Chemtrails and all the songs she's released from Blue Bannisters have been snoozers. 

 

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This topic screams school music teacher. Most of them love to sing and play instruments and have studied music for years.